Decorative aquarium with water dance effect

ABSTRACT

The present invention discloses a new decorative aquarium with water dance effect comprising an air pump, multiple light emitting sources, and a music source that generates variable melodies of music, in which an amount of air pumped out by an air pump and the colors of light emitted by light sources can be varied with the melody of music. Therefore, the user can at the same time listen to the music and watch the water dance to enjoy both audio and visual effects.

BACKGROUND

[0001] This invention relates generally to aquariums, and specifically,to a decorative aquarium with water dance effect, in which the intensityof the bubbles and colors of light are controlled by, and varied with,the melody of a music so as to achieve both visual and audioentertaining effect.

[0002] A conventional decorative aquarium includes a case and a baseseat for protecting the case. Partitioning boards are disposed in thecase at a certain height to divide the case into multiple chambers. Apump, a thermostat, a filter, and a fish tank are placed in thechambers. A viewing board, which can be a mirror or a board materialthat is designed and modified by a user, is arranged above thepartitioning boards. A bottom rack is disposed under the viewing board.Such conventional decorative aquarium can achieve a decorative effect.However, the case is shallow and narrow that fish may jump out of thecase.

[0003] Another conventional decorative aquarium, as may be disclosed byWen-Yung Lin in his “Decorative Lamp in Aquarium Tank,” U.S. Pat. No.5,993,021 (“'021 patent”), illustrates an attempt to improve upon theaforementioned conventional decorative aquarium. Such decorativeaquarium has a transparent tubular main body containing a liquid, an airpump being disposed on the bottom thereof, and fake fish that floats inthe liquid. However, the fake fish can only move along a fixed path ofthe bubbles generated by the air pump, and such decorative aquarium doesnot appear realistic.

[0004] Yet another conventional decorative aquarium illustrates anattempt to improve upon the aforementioned conventional decorativeaquarium. In his “Submerged Luminaire” patent, Japanese Patent No.8077807 (“JP '807 patent”), Norihiro Shinya discusses a submergedluminaire having various lighting effects for lighting from inside awater tank and having stereoscopic effect. Such luminaire consists of alight source and an optical fiber light guide coupled at an incident endto the light source and an outgoing end is arranged in the water tank.The outgoing end is arranged in a line and is adjacent to an airdiffuser having bubble generating holes and the outgoing end and the airdiffuser are integrally formed by an integral member. An air compressoris connected to the air diffuser through an air pipe and compressed airis fed from the compressor. However, the lighting effect, at most, iscoordinated with the generated air bubbles and not with any othereffect, such as a melody of music.

[0005] Yet another conventional decorative aquarium, as may be disclosedby Hitoshi Ando in his Japanese Patent No.10085460 (“JP '460 patent”),entitled “Air Bubble Generator by Musical Sound,” illustrates anotherattempt to improve upon the aforementioned conventional decorativeaquarium. Ando's air bubble generator is provided with a water tankhousing a liquid and provided with multiple air bubble generation ports,an air bubble generation mechanism for generating air bubbles frommultiple air bubble generation ports, and a control part for controllingthe air bubble generation mechanism corresponding to musical soundinformation and controlling the generation of the air bubbles from theair bubble generation ports. The air bubbles are generated from the airbubble generation ports corresponding the musical sound information.However, Ando's air bubble generator lacks additional decorative effectsuch as lighting effect that is also coordinated with the musical soundinformation.

[0006] Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention toprovide a decorative aquarium with water dance effect. The decorativeaquarium can be switched into a sonic frequency-controlled mode in whichthe intensity of the bubbles and colors of light are controlled by, andvaried with, the frequency of music.

[0007] Further object of the present invention is to provide the abovedecorative aquarium by which a user can at the same time enjoy the musicand watch the water dance for both visual and audio pleasures.

SUMMARY

[0008] The present invention satisfies these needs.

[0009] The decorative aquarium with water dance effect of the presentinvention comprises a transparent main body, a base seat, a controllingcircuit, a single chip, an electrical air pump, and multiple lightemitting sources. The transparent main body, detacheably engages thebase seat for support. The single chip, the electrical pump, and thelight emitting sources are connected to the controlling circuit, andthey are disposed in the base seat. The amount of air and the rate ofdischarge of the air pumped out by the air pump, as well as the color oflight emitted by the light emitting sources can be varied according tothe music melody generated by the single chip to create the water danceeffect.

[0010] The controlling circuit may further include a controlling switchfor activating the decorative aquarium into a water dance effect mode toproduce such water dance effect. Therefore, a user can simultaneouslyenjoy the music and watch the water dance for both visual and audiopleasures.

[0011] The controlling circuit may further include a controlling switchcapable of switching the decorative aquarium into a common function modeto disable the water dance effect, in which case the size, and thedischarge rate of air pumped out by the air pump, and the flickeringcolor of light emitted by the light emitting sources remain constant.

[0012] In another embodiment of the present invention, the main bodyfurther comprises a plurality of floating decorative articles locatedtherein for further visual entertainment effect.

[0013] In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the lightemitting sources are vertically placed in the base seat.

DRAWINGS

[0014] These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentinvention will become better understood with regard to the followingdescription, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:

[0015]FIG. 1 is a perspective exploded view of a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention;

[0016]FIG. 2 is a sectional assembled view of a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention;

[0017]FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of the controlling circuit of apreferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0018]FIG. 4 shows the operation of a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention in one state;

[0019]FIG. 5 shows the operation of a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention in another state; and

[0020]FIG. 6 shows a set of speakers being externally connected with apreferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0021] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the decorative aquarium of thepresent invention, the decorative aquarium of the present inventionincludes a transparent main body 10, a base case 20 and a controllingcircuit 30 installed in the base case 20. The transparent main body 10is preferably made out of a transparent tube with a certain length, andit is filled with a liquid. The bottom of the main body 10 engages abase seat 11. Two locating blocks 13 are respectively formed on twoopposite sides of the base seat 11. Multiple light emitting sources 15with different colors, such as red, blue and green, and an air pump 14are disposed in the interior of the base seat 11. The outlet of the airpump 14 via a communicating pipe 16 is connected to a through hole 12 ofthe bottom of the main body 1.

[0022] The top face of the base case 20 is formed with a receptacle 22with a shape corresponding to that of the base seat 11 of the main body10. Two opposite sides of the receptacle 22 are formed with locatingchannels 23, to which locating blocks 13 are engaged for stabilizing themain body 10 to the base seat 11. Two speakers 21 are mounted on twosides of front face of the base case 20. Two switches 26, 27, a socket24 and five function keys 25 a through 25 e are disposed under thespeakers 21. The switches, socket and function keys are electricallyconnected with the controlling circuit 30 in the base case 20. A powerwire 28 extends from the controlling circuit 30 out of the base case 20.

[0023]FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of the controlling circuit 30. Thecontrolling circuit 30 includes multiple transistors, resistors,capacitors, and a single chip 31 having at least one random accessmemory, in which a controlling program is stored. The two switches 26and 27 are respectively connected with the tenth and twenty-second pinsof the single chip 31. The five function keys 25 a through 25 e arerespectively connected with the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, twentiethand twenty-first pins. The socket 24 is connected with the twenty-fifthpin to form the controlling circuit.

[0024] After powered on, the present invention has two options: (1) acommon function mode and (2) a water dance function mode.

[0025] Option 1—Common function mode. The switch 26 is switched off toactivate the common function mode. During the common function mode, therate of discharge of the air bubbles from the air pump 14 is continuousand constant. The light emitting sources 15 are all switched on or off.By means of the switch 27, a set of built-in music melodies that arestored in the random access memory of the single chip 31 can be selectedfor play. By means of the press key 25 a, a single built-in melody canbe selected to be played. Alternatively, by means of the press key 25 b,multiple built-in melodies can be played in sequence. By means of thepress keys 25 c and 25 d, the volume of the music can be adjusted. Bymeans of the press key 25 e, the music can be stopped while the bubblesare still continuously discharged.

[0026] Option 2—Water dance function mode. The switch 26 is switched onto activate the water dance function mode. The rate of discharge of airbubbles from the air pump 14 and the operation of the light emittingsources 15 are entirely determined by the melody of the music.Therefore, when different melodies are selected via the switch 27, presskey 25 a, or press key 25 b, the air pump 14 and the light emittingsources 15 will be controlled accordingly to create a unique water dancepattern.

[0027] In addition, fake water fowls 40 can be placed in the transparentmain body 10 as shown in FIG. 4. The air pump 14 can pump bubbles intothe main body for the fake water fowls 40 to float therein. In addition,as shown in FIG. 5, when the switch 26 is switched to water dancefunction mode, the fake water fowls 40 can freely and lively float inthe liquid with patterns varied with the frequency of the music.Moreover, in cooperation with sound and light effect, a visual and audioentertaining effect can be achieved.

[0028] As shown in FIG. 6, a user may choose to connect speakers 50externally to the socket 24 to produce music with higher power output,in case speakers 21 that are built in the base case 20 does not produceadequate music power output for the user, and the user desiresamplification of the music via use of powered speakers such as speakers50. For instance, the user may elect to connect the present invention toa set of elaborate audio system capable of producing surround soundeffect to enjoy the music produced by the present invention withthree-dimensional sound effect. Or, the user may choose to connect asubwoofer for better bass sound quality of the music produced by thepresent invention.

[0029] In sum, according to the decorative aquarium of the presentinvention, the amount of the bubbles and the flickering light can becontrolled by the melody of the music produced by the single chip 31.Therefore, when enjoying the music, a user can watch the floatingdecorative articles including artificial water animals such as fakewater fowls 40 and the colorful light varied with the melody at the sametime, resulting in a novel decorative effect.

[0030] The above embodiments are used only to illustrate the presentinvention, and it is not intended to limit the scope thereof. A personskilled in the art will readily recognize similar variations andalternative embodiments of the present invention, without departing fromthe spirit of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A decorative aquarium with a water dance effect,comprising: (a) a substantially rigid transparent main body filled witha liquid; (b) a base seat being detachably engageable with thetransparent main body for supporting the transparent main body; (c) asingle chip that generates and processes a plurality of control signals,the control signals comprising: i) a plurality of audio signals, ii) aplurality of bubble signals, and iii) a plurality of light signals; (d)a controlling circuit connected to the single chip for transmitting thecontrol signals to: i) an electrical air pump electronically connectedto the controlling circuit and being controlled by the bubble signals;ii) a plurality of light emitting sources located in the base seat andelectronically connected to the controlling circuit, the light emittingsources being controlled by the light signals; iii) one or more speakerselectronically connected to the controlling circuit, the speakers beingcapable of reproducing at least one melody of music based on the audiosignals; and (e) a power source for providing electric power to thedecorative aquarium; whereby an amount of air pumped out by the air pumpand one or more colors of light emitted by the light emitting sourcescan be varied according to the control signal generated by the singlechip to create the water dance effect.
 2. The decorative aquarium ofclaim 1, wherein the controlling circuit further comprises a controllingswitch capable of switching the decorative aquarium into a water danceeffect mode to create the water dance effect.
 3. The decorative aquariumof claim 1, wherein the controlling circuit further comprises acontrolling switch capable of switching the decorative aquarium to acommon function mode to disable the water dance effect.
 4. Thedecorative aquarium of claim 1, wherein the controlling circuit furthercomprises a plurality of function keys which allows an user to select amelody of music from a predetermined set of music melodies processed bythe single chip.
 5. The decorative aquarium of claim 1, wherein the mainbody further comprises a plurality of floating decorative articles. 6.The decorative aquarium of claim 1, wherein the light emitting sourcesare vertically placed in the base seat.
 7. The decorative aquarium ofclaim 1, wherein the light emitting sources emit light of differentcolors.
 8. The decorative aquarium of claim 1 further comprising one ormore external speakers.
 9. The decorative aquarium of claim 1, whereinthe single chip is upgradeable.